Search results for: alignment formation

Authors: Pouya Khaleghi

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Dental implants are a successful treatment modality for restoring both function and aesthetics. Dental implant treatment has predictive results in the replacement of the lost teeth and has a high success rate even in the long term. The most important factor which is responsible for the positive course of implant treatment is the process of osseointegration between the implant structure and the host’s bone tissue. During recent years, many studies have focused on surgical and prosthetic factors, as well as the implant-related factors. However, implant failure still occurs despite the improvements that have led to the increased survival rate of dental implants, which suggests the possible role of some host-related risk factors. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin regulating calcium and phosphorus metabolism in tissues. The role of vitamin D in bone healing has been under investigation for several years. Vitamin D deficiency has also been associated with impaired and delayed callus formation and fractures healing; however, the role of vitamin D has not been clarified. Therefore, it is extremely important to study the phenomenon of a connection formed between bone tissue and the surface of a titanium implant and find correlations between the 25- hydroxycholecalciferol concentration in blood serum and the course of osseointegration. Because the processes of bone remodeling are very dynamic in the period of actual osseointegration, it is necessary to obtain the correct concentration of vitamin D3 metabolites in blood serum. In conclusion, the correct level of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol on the day of surgery and vitamin D deficiency treatment have a significant influence on the increase in the bone level at the implant site during the process of osseointegration assessed radiologically.

Keywords: implant, osseointegration, vitamin d, dental

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Authors: Fouzia Perveen, Rumana Qureshi

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The presently studied twelve anticancer drugs are the cytotoxic agents which inhibit the replication of DNA and activity of enzymes involved in DNA replication namely topoisomerase-II, polymerase and helicase and have shown remarkable anticancer activity in clinical trials. In this study, we performed molecular docking studies of twelve antitumor drugs against DNA and DNA enzymes in the presence and absence of ascorbic acid (AA) and developed the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model for anticancer activity screening. A number of electronic and steric descriptors were calculated using MOE software package. QSAR was established showing a correlation of binding strength with various physicochemical descriptors. Out of these twelve, eight cytotoxic drugs were tested on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer cell lines (H-157 and H-1299) in the absence and presence of ascorbic acid and experimental IC50 values were calculated. From the docking studies, binding constants were calculated indicating the strength of drug-DNA and drug-enzyme complex formation and it was correlated to the IC50 values (both experimental and theoretical). These results can offer useful references for directing the molecular design of DNA enzyme inhibitor with improved anticancer activity.

Keywords: ascorbic acid, binding constant, cytotoxic agents, cell culture, DNA, DNA enzymes, molecular docking

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Authors: Mehdi Nasr-Esfahani, Leila Mohammad Bagheri, Ava Nasr-Esfahani

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Root and collar rot disease caused by Phytophthora capsici (Leonian) is one of the most serious diseases in pepper, Capsicum annuum L. In this study, a diverse collection of 37 commercial edible and ornamental pepper genotypes infected with P. capsici were investigated for biomass parameters and enzymatic activity of peroxidase or peroxide reductases (EC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), polyphenol oxidase (PPOs), catalase (CAT) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL). Seven candidate DEG genes were also evaluated on resistant and susceptible pepper cultivars, through measuring product formation, using spectrophotometry and real-time polymerase chain reaction. All the five enzymes and seven defense-gene candidates were up-regulated in all inoculated pepper accessions to P. capsici. But, the enzymes and DEG genes were highly expressed in resistant cv. 19OrnP-PBI, 37ChillP-Paleo, and “23CherryP-Orsh". The expression level of enzymes were 1.5 to 5.6-fold higher in the resistant peppers, than the control non-inoculated genotypes. Also, the transcriptional levels of related candidate DEG genes were 3.16 to 5.90-fold higher in the resistant genotypes. There was a direct and high correlation coefficient between resistance, bio-mass parameters, enzymatic activity, and resistance gene expression. The related enzymes and candidate genes expressed herein will provide a basis for further gene cloning and functional verification studies, and also will aid in an understanding of the regulatory mechanism of pepper resistance to P. capsici.

Keywords: AP2/ERF, cDNA, enzymes, MIP gene, q-RTPCR, XLOC

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Authors: Rajesh Kumar Meena, Suman Jhajharia, Goutam Chakraborty

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Plasmonic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) was synthesized by chemical reduction method using Trachyspermum Ammi (TA, Ajwain) seeds extract in aqueous medium and AgNO3 solution at different time interval. Reaction time, and concentration of AgNO3 and TA could accelerate the reduction rate of Ag+ and affect AgNPs size and concentration of NPs. Surface plasmon resonance band centered at 420-430 nm (88.78nm) was recognised as first exitonic peak of UV-Vis absorption spectra of AgNPs that used to calculate the particle size (10-30 nm). FTIR results TA supported AgNPs showed decrease in intensity of peaks at 3394, 1716 and 1618 cm-1 with respect to the plain TA indicating the involvement of O-H, carbonyl group and C=C stretching in formation of TA-AgNPs aggregates. The C-O-C and C-N stretching suggested the presence of many phytochemicals on the surface of the NPs. Impedance study reveals that at low concentration of TA the rate of charge transfer is in TA-AgNPs aggregates, found higher than the higher TA concentration condition that confirms the stability of AgNPs in water. Extract reduce silver ions into silver nanoparticles (NPs) of size 6-50nm. Pronounce effect of the time on Ag NPs concentration and particle size, was exhibited by the system These biogenic Ag NPs are characterized using UV- Vis spectrophotometry (UV-Visible), Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) and XRD. These studies give us inside view of the most probable mechanism of biosynthesis and optoelectronic properties of the as synthesised Ag NPs.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, bioreduction, capping agent, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: S. Bilal, S. A. Bhat, I. Hussain, J. D. Parrah, S. P. Ahmad, M. R. Mir

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Background: The wound healing involves a highly coordinated cascade of cellular and immunological response over a period including coagulation, inflammation, granulation tissue formation, epithelialization, collagen synthesis and tissue remodeling. Wounds in aged heal more slowly than those in younger, mainly because of comorbidities that occur as one age. The present study is about the influence of age on wound healing. 1x1cm^2 (100 mm) wounds were created on the back of the animal. The animals were divided into two groups; one group had animals in the age group of 3-9 months while another group had animals in the age group of 15-21 months. Materials and Methods: 24 clinically healthy rabbits in the age group of 3-21 months were used as experimental animals and divided into two groups viz A and B. All experimental parameters, i.e., Excision wound model, Measurement of wound area, Protein extraction and estimation, Protein extraction and estimation and DNA extraction and estimation were done by standard methods. Results: The parameters studied were wound contraction, hydroxyproline, glucosamine, protein, and DNA. A significant increase (p<0.005) in the hydroxyproline, glucosamine, protein and DNA and a significant decrease in wound area (p<0.005) was observed in the age group of 3-9 months when compared to animals of an age group of 15-21 months. Wound contraction together with hydroxyproline, glucosamine, protein and DNA estimations suggest that advanced age results in retarded wound healing. Conclusion: The decrease wound contraction and accumulation of hydroxyproline, glucosamine, protein and DNA in group B animals may be associated with the reduction or delay in growth factors because of the advancing age.

Keywords: age, wound healing, excision wound, hydroxyproline, glucosamine

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Authors: K. Silakaew, P. Thongbai

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There is an increasing need for high–permittivity polymer–matrix composites (PMC) owing to the rapid development of the electronics industry. Unfortunately, the dielectric permittivity of PMC is still too low ( < 80). Moreover, the dielectric loss tangent is usually high (tan > 0.1) when the dielectric permittivity of PMC increased. In this research work, the dielectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)–based nanocomposites can be significantly improved by incorporating by silver–BaTiO3 (Ag–BT) ceramic hybrid nanoparticles. The Ag–BT/PVDF nanocomposites were fabricated using various volume fractions of Ag–BT hybrid nanoparticles (fAg–BT = 0–0.5). The Ag–BT/PVDF nanocomposites were characterized using several techniques. The main phase of Ag and BT can be detected by the XRD technique. The microstructure of the Ag–BT/PVDF nanocomposites was investigated to reveal the dispersion of Ag–BT hybrid nanoparticles because the dispersion state of a filler can have an effect on the dielectric properties of the nanocomposites. It was found that the filler hybrid nanoparticles were well dispersed in the PVDF matrix. The phase formation of PVDF phases was identified using the XRD and FTIR techniques. We found that the fillers can increase the polar phase of a PVDF polymer. The fabricated Ag–BT/PVDF nanocomposites are systematically characterized to explain the dielectric behavior in Ag–BT/PVDF nanocomposites. Interestingly, largely enhanced dielectric permittivity (>240) and suppressed loss tangent (tan<0.08) over a wide frequency range (102 – 105 Hz) are obtained. Notably, the dielectric permittivity is slightly dependent on temperature. The greatly enhanced dielectric permittivity was explained by the interfacial polarization between the Ag and PVDF interface, and due to a high permittivity of BT particles.

Keywords: BaTiO3, PVDF, polymer composite, dielectric properties

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Authors: Arife Simsek, Gulfem Bakan

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Sediment refers to the accumulation of varying amounts of sediment material in natural waters and the formation of bottom sludge. Sediments are the most important sources of pollutants as well as important future sources and carriers of pollutants. The accumulation of pollutants in sediments can cause serious environmental problems for the surrounding areas. Heavy metals (such as Cr, Cd, Al, Pb, Cu, Al, Zn) disrupt the water quality, affect the useful use of sediment, affect the ecosystem and have a toxic effect on the life of the sediment layer. This effect, which accumulates in the aquatic organisms, can enter the human body with the food chain and affect health seriously. Potential metal toxicity can be determined by comparing acid volatile sulfides (AVS) – simultaneously extracted metal (SEM) ratio in anoxic sediments to determine the effect of metals. Determination of the concentration of SEM and AVS is useful in screening sediments for potential toxicity due to the high metal concentration. In the case of SEM/AVS < 0 (anoxic sediment); in terms of AVS biomass production, its toxicity can be controlled. No toxic effects may be observed when SEM / AVS < 0. SEM / AVS > 0 (in the case of oxic sediment); metals with sensitive fraction such as Cu, As, Ag, Zn are stored. In this study, AVS and SEM measurements of sediment samples collected from five different points in the district of Tekkeköy in Samsun province were performed. The SEM - AVS ratio was greater than 0 in all samples. Therefore, it is necessary to test the toxicity against the risks that may occur in the ecosystem.

Keywords: AVS-SEM, Black Sea, heavy metal, sediment, toxicity

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Authors: Ming Ze Kao

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Static magnetic fields (SMF) are widely used in several medical applications, especially in diagnosis of tumors. However, biological effects of the SMFs on modulating cell physiology through the Lorentz force, which is highly frequency and magnitude dependent, remain to be elucidated. Specific patterns from SMFs of static MF, delivered by means of Halbach array magnets with a gradient increment of 6.857mT/mm from center to border, were found to have profound inhibitory effect on the growth rate of human cell line derived from Nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. The SMFs, which were shown to be noncontact, selectively impact rapid dividing cells while quiescent cells stay intact. The phenomenon acts in two modes: the arrest of cell proliferation in the G2/M phase and destruction of cell mitosis in cell division. First mode is manifested by impacting the proper formation of mitotic spindle, whereas the second results in disintegration of the cancer cell. Both modes are demonstrated when SMF was applied for 24 hours to cancer cells, the results revealed that metaphase arrest during mitosis due to activation of DNA damage response (DDR), resulting in high expression of ATM-NBS1-CHEK signaling pathways and higher G2/M phase ratio compared with control group. Here, experimental data suggest that the SMFs cause activation of cell cycle checkpoints, which implies the MFs as a potential therapeutic modality as a sensitizer for radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

Keywords: static magnetic field, DNA damage response, Halbach array, magnetic therapy

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Authors: Yahya Toyin Muritala, Nonglaksana Kama, Ahmad Yani

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The aim of the paper is to investigate various linguistic techniques in enhancing and facilitating the acquisition of the practical knowledge of Arabic grammatical structuring among non-Arab learners of the standard classical Arabic language in non-Arabic speaking academic settings in the course of the current growth of the internationalism and cultural integration in some higher institutions. As the nature of the project requires standard investigations into the unique principal features of Arabic structurings and implications, the findings of the research work suggest some principles to follow in solving the problems faced by learners while acquiring grammatical aspects of Arabic language. The work also concentrates on the the structural features of the language in terms of inflection/parsing, structural arrangement order, functional particles, morphological formation and conformity etc. Therefore, grammatical aspect of Arabic which has gone through major stages in its early evolution of the classical stages up to the era of stagnation, development and modern stage of revitalization is a main subject matter of the paper as it is globally connected with communication and religion of Islam practiced by millions of Arabs and non-Arabs nowadays. The conclusion of the work shows new findings, through the descriptive and analytical methods, in terms of teaching language for the purpose of effective global communication with focus on methods of second language acquisitions by application.

Keywords: language structure, Arabic grammar, classical Arabic, intercultural communication, non-Arabic speaking environment and prospects

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Authors: Eliziane Fernanda Navarro, Aparecida Eleonora Sitta

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Child of the Dark is the work of the Brazilian author Carolina Maria de Jesus, published at the first time by Ática and Francisco Alves in 1960. It is, mostly, a story of lack of rights. It lacks to men who live in the slums what is essential in order to take advantage of the privilege of rationality to develop themselves as civilized humans. It is, therefore, in the withholding of the basic rights that inequality finds space to build itself to be the main misery on Earth. Antonio Candido, a Brazilian sociologist claims that it is the right to literature has the ability to humanize men, once the aptitude to create fiction and fable is essential to the social balance. Hence, for the forming role that literature holds, it must be thought as the number of rights that assure human dignity, such as housing, education, health, freedom, etc. When talking about her routine, Carolina puts in evidence something that has great influence over the formation of human beings, contributing to the way they live: the slum. Even though it happens in a distinct way and using her own linguistics variation, Carolina writes about something that will only be discussed later on Brazil’s Cities Statute and Erminia Maricato: the right to the city, and how the slums are, although inserted in the city, an attachment, an illegal city, a dismissing room. It interests ourselves, for that matter, in this work, to analyse how the deprivation of the rights to the city and literature, detailed in Carolina’s journal, conditions human beings to a life where the instincts overcome the social values.

Keywords: Child of the Dark, slum, literature, architecture and urbanism, fundamental rights, Brazil

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Authors: Vivek Garg, Brajendra S. Sengar, Gaurav Siddharth, Nisheka Anadkat, Amitesh Kumar, Shailendra Kumar, Shaibal Mukherjee

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CuInGaSe (CIGSe) is the dominant thin film solar cell technology. The band alignment of Buffer/CIGSe interface is one of the most crucial parameters for solar cell performance. In this article, the valence band offset (VBOff) and conduction band offset (CBOff) values of Cu(In0.70Ga0.30)Se/ 1 at.% Ga: Mg0.25Zn0.75O (GMZO) heterojunction, grown by dual ion beam sputtering system (DIBS), are calculated to understand the carrier transport mechanism at the heterojunction for the realization of all sputtered buffer-less solar cells. To determine the valence band offset (VBOff), ∆E_V at GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction interface, the standard method based on core-level photoemission is utilized. The value of ∆E_V can be evaluated by considering common core-level peaks. In our study, the values of (Valence band onset)VBOn, obtained by linear extrapolation method for GMZO and CIGSe films are calculated to be 2.86 and 0.76 eV. In the UPS spectra peak positions of Se 3d is observed in UPS spectra at 54.82 and 54.7 eV for CIGSe film and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively, while the peak position of Mg 2p is observed at 50.09 and 50.12 eV for GMZO and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively. The optical band gap of CIGSe and GMZO are obtained from absorption spectra procured from spectroscopic ellipsometry are 1.26 and 3.84 eV respectively. The calculated average values of ∆E_v and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. We investigated the band-offset properties at the GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction to verify the suitability of the GMZO for the realization of the buffer-less solar cells. The calculated average values of ∆E_V and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. Acknowledgment: We are thankful to DIBS, EDX, and XRD facility equipped at Sophisticated Instrument Centre (SIC) at IIT Indore. The authors B.S.S and A.K acknowledge CSIR and V.G acknowledge UGC, India for their fellowships. B.S.S is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Internship Award. Prof. Shaibal Mukherjee is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Fellowship and MEITY YFRF award. This work is partially supported by DAE BRNS, DST CERI, and DST-RFBR Project under India-Russia Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology. We are thankful to Mukul Gupta for SIMS facility equipped at UGC-DAE Indore.

Keywords: CIGSe, DIBS, GMZO, solar cells, UPS

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Authors: Lina Yang, Mao Wen, Jianhong Chen, Kan Zhang

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Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) represents a highly sought lubricant for reducing friction based on intrinsic layered structure, but for this reason, practical applications have been greatly restricted due to the fact that its low hardness would cause severe wear. Here, a novel TiMoN/MoSₓ composite coatings with TiMoN solid solution grains embedded into MoSₓ-based amorphous matrix has been successfully designed and synthesized, through magnetron co-sputtering technology. Desirably, in virtue of such special microstructure, superhardness and excellent toughness can be well achieved, along with an ultra-low wear rate at ~2×10⁻¹¹ mm³/Nm in the air environment, simultaneously, low friction at ~0.1 is maintained. It should be noted that this wear level is almost two orders of magnitude lower than that of pure TiN coating, and is, as we know, the lowest wear rate in dry sliding. Investigations of tribofilm reveal that it is amorphous MoS₂ in nature, and its formation arises directly from the MoSₓ amorphous matrix. Which contributes to effective lubrication behavior, coupled with excellent mechanical performances of such composite coating, exceptionally low wear can be guaranteed. The findings in this work suggest that the special composite structure makes it possible for the synthesis of super-hard and super-durable lubricative coating, offering guidance to synthesize ultrahigh performance protective coating for industrial application.

Keywords: hardness, MoS₂-containing composite coatings, toughness, tribological properties

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Authors: Han Xiao

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The development of nanomedicines has recently achieved several breakthroughs in the field of cancer treatment; however, the biocompatibility and targeted burst release of these medications remain a limitation, which leads to serious side effects and significantly narrows the scope of their applications. The self-assembly of intermediate filament protein (IFP) peptides was triggered by a hydrophobic cation drug 7-amino actinomycin D (7-AAD) to synthesize pH-activatable nanoparticles (NPs) that could simultaneously locate tumors and produce antitumor effects. The designed IFP peptide included a target peptide (arginine–glycine–aspartate), a negatively charged region, and an α-helix sequence. It also possessed the ability to encapsulate 7-AAD molecules through the formation of hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions by a one-step method. 7-AAD molecules with excellent near-infrared fluorescence properties could be target delivered into tumor cells by NPs and released immediately in the acidic environments of tumors and endosome/lysosomes, ultimately inducing cytotoxicity by arresting the tumor cell cycle with inserted DNA. It is noteworthy that the IFP/7-AAD NPs tail vein injection approach demonstrated not only high tumor-targeted imaging potential, but also strong antitumor therapeutic effects in vivo. The proposed strategy may be used in the delivery of cationic antitumor drugs for precise imaging and cancer therapy.

Keywords: 7-amino actinomycin D, intermediate filament protein, nanoparticle, tumor image

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Authors: Elena M. Kopteva, Pavlina Jaluvkova, Zdenek Stuchlik

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In spite of the numerous attempts to close the discussion about the influence of cosmological expansion on local gravitationally bounded systems, this question arises in literature again and again and remains still far from its final resolution. Here one of the main problems is the problem of obtaining a physically adequate model of strongly gravitating object immersed in non-static cosmological background. Such objects are usually called ‘cosmological’ black holes and are of great interest in wide set of cosmological and astrophysical areas. In this work the set of new exact solutions of the Einstein equations is derived for the flat space that generalizes the known Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution for the case of nonzero pressure. The solutions obtained are pretending to describe the black hole immersed in nonstatic cosmological background and give a possibility to investigate the hot problems concerning the effects of the cosmological expansion in gravitationally bounded systems, the structure formation in the early universe, black hole thermodynamics and other related problems. It is shown that each of the solutions obtained contains either the Reissner-Nordstrom or the Schwarzschild black hole in the central region of the space. It is demonstrated that the approach of the mass function use in solving of the Einstein equations allows clear physical interpretation of the resulting solutions, that is of much benefit to any their concrete application.

Keywords: exact solutions of the Einstein equations, cosmological black holes, generalized Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solutions, nonzero pressure

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Authors: G. Kabir, A. M. Mohammed, M. A. Bawa

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The paper presents corrosion behaviors of Naval Brass, aluminum alloy and carbon steel in simulated seawater under stagnant conditions. The behaviors were characterized on the variation of chloride ions concentration in the range of 3.0wt% and 3.5wt% and exposure time. The weight loss coupon-method immersion technique was employed. The weight loss for the various alloys was measured. Based on the obtained results, the corrosion rate was determined. It was found that the corrosion rates of the various alloys are related to the chloride ions concentrations, exposure time and kinetics of passive film formation of the various alloys. Carbon steel, suffers corrosion many folds more than Naval Brass. This indicated that the alloy exhibited relatively strong resistance to corrosion in the exposure environment of the seawater. Whereas, the aluminum alloy exhibited an excellent and beneficial resistance to corrosion more than the Naval Brass studied. Despite the prohibitive cost, Naval Brass and aluminum alloy, indicated to have beneficial corrosion behavior that can offer wide range of application in seashore operations. The corrosion kinetics parameters indicated that the corrosion reaction is limited by diffusion mass transfer of the corrosion reaction elements and not by reaction controlled.

Keywords: alloys, chloride ions concentration, corrosion kinetics, corrosion rate, diffusion mass transfer, exposure time, seawater, weight loss

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Authors: Navkiran Kaur, Apoorva Mathur, Abhishree Agarwal, Sakshi Gupta, Tuhin Rashmi

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Aim: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, and resistance to the current therapeutics, often concurrently, is an increasing clinical challenge. Glycosylation of proteins is one of the most important post-translational modifications. It is widely known that aberrant glycosylation has been implicated in many different diseases due to changes associated with biological function and protein folding. Alterations in cell surface glycosylation, can promote invasive behavior of tumor cells that ultimately lead to the progression of cancer. In breast cancer, there is an increasing evidence pertaining to the role of glycosylation in tumor formation and metastasis. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the disease associated sialoglycoproteins in breast cancer by using bioinformatics tools. The sequence will be retrieved from UniProt database. A database in the form of a word document was made by a collection of FASTA sequences of breast cancer gene sequence. Glycosylation was studied using yinOyang tool on ExPASy and Differential genes expression and protein analysis was done in context of breast cancer metastasis. The number of residues predicted O-glc NAc threshold containing 50 aberrant glycosylation sites or more was detected and recorded for individual sequence. We found that the there is a significant change in the expression profiling of glycosylation patterns of various proteins associated with breast cancer. Differential aberrant glycosylated proteins in breast cancer cells with respect to non-neoplastic cells are an important factor for the overall progression and development of cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, bioinformatics, cancer, metastasis, glycosylation

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Authors: Maryam Kiani

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This study focuses on the development of composite nanomaterials based on SiO2 and carbon black for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts in batteries and fuel cells. The aim was to explore the potential of these composite materials as efficient catalysts for ORR, which is a critical process in energy conversion devices. The SiO2/carbon black composite nanomaterials were synthesized using a facile and scalable method. The morphology, structure, and electrochemical properties of the materials were characterized using various techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electrochemical measurements. The results demonstrated that the incorporation of SiO2 into the carbon black matrix enhanced the ORR performance of the composite material. The composite nanomaterials exhibited improved electrocatalytic activity, enhanced stability, and increased durability compared to pure carbon black. The presence of SiO2 facilitated the formation of active sites, improved electron transfer, and increased the surface area available for ORR. This study contributes to the advancement of battery and fuel cell technology by offering a promising approach for the development of high-performance ORR electrocatalysts. The SiO2/carbon black composite nanomaterials show great potential for improving the efficiency and durability of energy conversion devices, leading to more sustainable and efficient energy solutions.

Keywords: oxygen reduction reaction, batteries, fuel cells, electrrocatalyst

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Authors: Whitehead-Clarke T., Beynon V., Banks J., Karanjia R., Mudera V., Windsor A., Kureshi A.

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Introduction: Mesh implants are regularly used to help repair both hiatus hernias (HH) and diaphragmatic hernias (DH). In vivo studies are used to test not only mesh safety but increasingly comparative efficacy. Our work examines the field of in vivo mesh testing for HH and DH models to establish current practices and standards. Method: This systematic review was registered with PROSPERO. Medline and Embase databases were searched for relevant in vivo studies. 44 articles were identified and underwent abstract review, where 22 were excluded. 4 further studies were excluded after full text review – leaving 18 to undergo data extraction. Results: Of 18 studies identified, 9 used an in vivo HH model and 9 a DH model. 5 studies undertook mechanical testing on tissue samples – all uniaxial in nature. Testing strip widths ranged from 1-20mm (median 3mm). Testing speeds varied from 1.5-60mm/minute. Upon histology, the most commonly assessed structural and cellular factors were neovascularization and macrophages, respectively (n=9 each). Structural analysis was mostly qualitative, where cellular analysis was equally likely to be quantitative. 11 studies assessed adhesion formation, of which 8 used one of four scoring systems. 8 studies measured mesh shrinkage. Discussion: In vivo studies assessing mesh for HH and DH repair are uncommon. Within this relatively young field, we encourage surgical and materials testing institutions to discuss its standardisation.

Keywords: hiatus, diaphragmatic, hernia, mesh, materials testing, in vivo

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Authors: Konysbek Aksaule

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The purpose of this work is to explore new and effective ways of teaching English to students who are studying a foreign language since the timeliness of the problem disclosed in this article is due to the high level of English proficiency that potential specialists must have due to high competition in the context of global globalization. The article presents an analysis of the feasibility and effectiveness of using an authentic feature film in teaching English to students. The methodological basis of the study includes an assessment of the level of students' proficiency in a foreign language, the stage of evaluating the film, and the method of selecting the film for certain categories of students. The study also contains a list of practical tasks that can be applied in the process of viewing and perception of an original feature film in a foreign language, and which are aimed at developing language skills such as speaking and listening. The results of this study proved that teaching English to students through watching an original film is one of the most effective methods because it improves speech perception, speech reproduction ability, and also expands the vocabulary of students and makes their speech fluent. In addition, learning English through watching foreign films has a huge impact on the cultural views and knowledge of students about the country of the language being studied and the world in general. Thus, this study demonstrates the high potential of using authentic feature film in English lessons for pedagogical science and methods of teaching English in general.

Keywords: university, education, students, foreign language, feature film

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Authors: Ahmed T. Farid, Khaled Z. Soliman

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Due to limited areas and excessive cost of land for projects, backfilling process has become necessary. Also, backfilling will be done to overcome the un-leveling depths or raising levels of site construction, especially near the sea region. Therefore, backfilling soil materials used under the foundation of structures should be investigated regarding its effect on ground motion characteristics, especially at regions subjected to earthquakes. In this research, 60-meter thickness of sandy fill material was used above a fixed 240-meter of natural clayey soil underlying by rock formation to predict the modified ground motion characteristics effect at the foundation level. Comparison between the effect of using three different situations of fill material compaction on the recorded earthquake is studied, i.e. peak ground acceleration, time history, and spectra acceleration values. The three different densities of the compacted fill material used in the study were very loose, medium dense and very dense sand deposits, respectively. Shake computer program was used to perform this study. Strong earthquake records, with Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) of 0.35 g, were used in the analysis. It was found that, higher compaction of fill material thickness has a significant effect on eliminating the earthquake ground motion properties at surface layer of fill material, near foundation level. It is recommended to consider the fill material characteristics in the design of foundations subjected to seismic motions. Future studies should be analyzed for different fill and natural soil deposits for different seismic conditions.

Keywords: acceleration, backfill, earthquake, soil, PGA

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Authors: Antonia Stanojević, Agnes Akkerman

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In contemporary society, economically active people typically spend most of their waking hours doing their job. Having that in mind, this research examines how socialization at the workplace shapes political preferences. Innovatively, it examines, in particular, the possible relationship between employees’ voice suppression by the employer and the formation of their political preferences. Since the employer is perceived as an authority figure, their behavior might induce spillovers to attitudes about political authorities and authoritarian governance. Therefore, a positive effect of suppression of voice by employers on employees' preference for authoritarian governance is expected. Furthermore, this relation is expected to be mediated by two mechanisms: system justification and power distance. Namely, it is expected that suppression of voice would create a power distance organizational climate and increase employees’ acceptance of unequal distribution of power, as well as evoke attempts of oppression rationalization through system justification. The hypotheses will be tested on the data gathered within the first wave of Work and Politics Dataset 2017 (N=6000), which allows for a wide range of demographic and psychological control variables. Although a cross-sectional analysis to be used at this point does not allow for causal inferences, the confirmation of expected relationships would encourage and justify further longitudinal research on the same panel dataset, in order to get a clearer image of the causal relationship between employers' suppression of voice and workers' political preferences.

Keywords: authoritarian values, political preferences, power distance, system justification, voice suppression

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Authors: Uğur Tuztaşi, Mehmet Uysal, Yavuz Arat

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The tomb (grave) structures that have influenced the architectural culture from the Seljuk times to the Ottoman throughout Anatolia are members of a continuing building tradition in terms of monumental expression and styles. This building typology which has religious and cultural permeability in view of spatial traces and structural formations follows the entire trajectory of the respect to death and the deceased from the Seljuks to the Ottomans and also the changing burial traditions epitomised in the form of mausoleums in the Turkish Republic. Although the cultural layers have the same contents with regards to the cult of monument this architectural tradition which evolved from tombs to mausoleums changed in both typological formation and structural size. In short, the tomb tradition with unique examples of architectural functions and typological formations has been encountered from 13th century onwards and continued during the Ottoman period with changes in form and has transformed to mausoleums during the 20th century. This study analyses the process of transformation from complex structures to simple structures and then to monumental graves in terms of architectural expression. Moreover, the study interrogates the architectural language of Anatolian Seljuk tombs to Ottoman tombs and monumental graves built during the republican period in terms of spatial and structural contexts.

Keywords: death and space in Turks, monumental graves, language of architectural style, morphological transformations

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Authors: Adam J. Bowen

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Abstract— Should robots have rights or legal protections. Often debates concerning whether robots and AI should be afforded rights focus on conditions of personhood and the possibility of future advanced forms of AI satisfying particular intrinsic cognitive and moral attributes of rights-holding persons. Such discussions raise compelling questions about machine consciousness, autonomy, and value alignment with human interests. Although these are important theoretical concerns, especially from a future design perspective, they provide limited guidance for addressing the moral and legal standing of current and near-term AI that operate well below the cognitive and moral agency of human persons. Robots and AI are already being pressed into service in a wide range of roles, especially in healthcare and biomedical contexts. The design and large-scale implementation of robots in the context of core societal institutions like healthcare systems continues to rapidly develop. For example, we bring them into our homes, hospitals, and other care facilities to assist in care for the sick, disabled, elderly, children, or otherwise vulnerable persons. We enlist surgical robotic systems in precision tasks, albeit still human-in-the-loop technology controlled by surgeons. We also entrust them with social roles involving companionship and even assisting in intimate caregiving tasks (e.g., bathing, feeding, turning, medicine administration, monitoring, transporting). There have been advances to enable severely disabled persons to use robots to feed themselves or pilot robot avatars to work in service industries. As the applications for near-term AI increase and the roles of robots in restructuring our biomedical practices expand, we face pressing questions about the normative implications of human-robot interactions and collaborations in our collective worldmaking, as well as the moral and legal status of robots. This paper argues that robots operating in public and private spaces be afforded some protections as either moral patients or legal agents to establish prohibitions on robot abuse, misuse, and mistreatment. We already implement robots and embed them in our practices and institutions, which generates a host of human-to-machine and machine-to-machine relationships. As we interact with machines, whether in service contexts, medical assistance, or home health companions, these robots are first encountered in relationship to us and our respective roles in the encounter (e.g., surgeon, physical or occupational therapist, recipient of care, patient’s family, healthcare professional, stakeholder). This proposal aims to outline a framework for establishing limiting factors and determining the extent of moral or legal protections for robots. In doing so, it advocates for a relational approach that emphasizes the priority of mapping the complex contextually sensitive roles played and the relations in which humans and robots stand to guide policy determinations by relevant institutions and authorities. The relational approach must also be technically informed by the intended uses of the biomedical technologies in question, Design History Files, extensive risk assessments and hazard analyses, as well as use case social impact assessments.

Keywords: biomedical robots, robot ethics, robot laws, human-robot interaction

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Authors: Kalbende Krunal Ramesh

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The Carbon Capture and Storage Technology (CCS) provides a veritable platform to bridge the gap between the seemingly irreconcilable twin global challenges of ensuring a secure, reliable and diversified energy supply and mitigating climate change by reducing atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide. Making its proper regulatory policy and making it flexible for the government and private company by law to regulate, also exploring the opportunity in this sector is the main aim of this paper. India's total annual emissions was 1725 Mt CO2 in 2011, which comprises of 6% of total global emission. It is very important to control the greenhouse gas emission for the environment protection. This paper discusses the various regulatory policy and technology adopted by some of the countries for successful using CCS technology. The brief geology of sedimentary basins in India is studied, ranging from the category I to category IV and deep water and potential for mature technology in CCS is reviewed. Areas not suitable for CO2 storage using presently mature technologies were over viewed. CSS and Clean development mechanism was developed for India, considering the various aspects from research and development, project appraisal, approval and validation, implementation, monitoring and verification, carbon credit issued, cap and trade system and its storage potential. The opportunities in oil and gas operations, power sector, transport sector is discussed briefly.

Keywords: carbon credit issued, cap and trade system, carbon capture and storage technology, greenhouse gas

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Authors: Bilge Bozdogan, Selda T. Sendogdular, Levent Sendogdular

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We report a technique to control chain conformation during the plasticization process to achieve homogeneous and stable thin films, which allows to reduce post-process annealing times along with enhanced properties like controlled irreversible adsorbed layer (Guiselin brushes) formation. In this study, spin coating temperature was considered as a parameter; hence, all equipment, including the spin coater, substrate, vials, and the solution, was kept inside the same heated fume hood where solution was spin-coated after the temperature was stabilized at a desired value. AFM and SEM results revealed severe difference for solid and air interface between ambient and temperature-controlled samples, which suggest that enthalpic contribution dynamically helps to control film stability in a way where chain entanglements and conformational restrictions are avoided before film growing and allowing to control grafting density through spin coating temperature. The adsorbed layer was also characterized with SEM and Raman-spectroscopy technique right after seeding the adsorbed layer with gold nanoparticles. Stabilized gold nanoparticles and their surface distribution manifest the existence of a controllable polymer brush structure. Acknowledgments: This study was funded by Erciyes University Scientific Research Projects (BAP) Funding(Project ID:10058)

Keywords: chain stability, Guiselin brushes, polymer thin film, spin coating temperature

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Authors: W. Abu Rayyan, A. Singh, A. M. Al-Jaafreh, W. Abu Dayyih, M. Bustami, S. Salem, N. Seder, K. Schröppel

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Hyphal growth and the transcriptional regulation to the host environment are key issues during the pathogenesis of C. albicans. Tec1p is the C. albicans homolog of a TEA transcription factor family, which share a conserved DNA-binding TEA domain in their N-terminal. In order to define a structure-function relationship of the C. albicans Tec1p protein, we constructed several mutations on the N terminal, C terminal or in the TEA binding domain itself by homologous recombination technology. The modifications in the open reading frame of TEC1 were tested for reconstitution of the morphogenetic development of the tec1/tec1 mutant strain CaAS12. Mutation in the TEA consensus sequence did not confer transition to hyphae whereas the reconstitution of the full-length Tec1p has reconstituted hyphal development. A deletion in one of glutamine-rich regions either in the Tec1p N-terminal or the C-terminal in regions of 53-212 or 637–744 aa, respectively, did not restore morphological development in mutant CaAS12 strain. Whereas, the reconstitution with Tec1p mutants other than the glutamate-rich region has restored the morphogenetic switch. Additionally, the deletion of the glutamine-rich region has attenuated the invasive growth and the heat shock resistance of C. albicans. In conclusion, we show that a glutamine-rich region of Tec1p is essential for the hyphal development and mediating adaptation to the host environment of C. albicans.

Keywords: Candida albicans, morphogenetic development, TEA domain, hyphal formation, TEC1

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Authors: H. Mohit

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In automotive air conditioning system, two heat exchangers are used as evaporator and condenser which are placed inside the bonnet of a car in a compact manner. The dust particles from outside and moisture content produced during the process leads to formation of impure particles on the surface of evaporator coil. But in condenser coil, the impure particles are settling down due to dust from atmosphere. The major problem of the heat exchanger used in automotive air conditioning is leakage of refrigerant due to corrosion. This effect of corrosion will lead to damage on the surface of heat exchanger and leakage of refrigerant from the system. To protect from corrosion, coatings are applied on its surfaces. Nowadays, to improve the corrosion resistance of these heat exchangers, hydrophilic coatings are used, which is very expensive. Cryogenic treatment is one method which involves the treatment of materials below -150 °C using the cryogenic fluid such as liquid nitrogen. In this project work, a study of improvement in corrosion resistance of materials of aluminium alloys of various grades as AA 1100, AA 6061, AA 6063 and AA 2024 that are mainly used for fin and tube heat exchangers in automotive air conditioning system is made. In total, five different processes are selected for these grades of aluminium alloy and various parameters like corrosion rate, dimensional stability, hardness and microstructure are measured. The improvements were observed in these parameters while comparing it with conventional heat treatment process.

Keywords: cryogenic treatment, corrosion resistance, dimensional stability, materials science

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Authors: Cecilia Perri, Vincenzo Corvello

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The aim of the present study is to investigate consumers' determinants of intention toward the adoption of Smart Grid solutions and technologies. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model is applied and tested to explain the formation of such adoption intention. An exogenous variable, taking into account the resistance to change of individuals, was added to the basic model. The elicitation study allowed obtaining salient modal beliefs, which were used, with the support of literature, to design the questionnaire. After the screening phase, data collected from the main survey were analysed for evaluating measurement model's reliability and validity. Consistent with the theory, the results of structural equation analysis revealed that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control positively, which affected the adoption intention. Specifically, the variable with the highest estimate loading factor was found to be the perceived behavioural control, and, the most important belief related to each construct was determined (e.g., energy saving was observed to be the most significant belief linked with attitude). Further investigation indicated that the added exogenous variable has a negative influence on intention; this finding confirmed partially the hypothesis, since this influence was indirect: such relationship was mediated by attitude. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: adoption of innovation, consumers behaviour, energy management, smart grid, theory of planned behaviour

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Authors: Bessaha Hassiba, Bouraada Mohamed

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Layered double hydroxide with Zn/(Al+Fe) molar ratio of 3:1 was synthesized by co-precipitation method and their calcined product was obtained by heating treatment of ZAF-HT at 500°C. The calcined and uncalcined materials were used to remove weak acid dyes: indigo carmine (IC) and green bezanyl-F2B (F2B) in aqueous solution. The synthesized materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR and TG/DTA analysis confirming the formation of pure layered structure of ZAF-HT, the destruction of the original structure after calcination and the intercalation of the dyes molecules. Moreover, the interlayer distance increases from 7.645 Å in ZAF-HT to 19.102 Å after the dyes sorption. The dose of the adsorbents was chosen 0.5 g/l while the initial concentrations were 250 and 750 mg/l for indigo carmine and green bezanyl-F2B respectively. The sorption experiments were carried out at ambient temperature and without adjusting the initial solution pH (pHi = 6.10 for IC and pHi = 5.01 for F2B). In addition, the maximum adsorption capacities obtained by ZAF-HT and CZAF for both dyes followed the order: CZAF-F2B (1501.4 mg.g-1) > CZAF-IC (617.3 mg.g-1) > ZAF-HT-IC (41.4 mg.g-1) > ZAF-HT-F2B (28.9 mg.g-1). The removal of indigo carmine and green bezanyl-F2B by ZAF-HT was due to the anion exchange and/or the adsorption on the surface. By using the calcined material (CZAF), the removal of the dyes was based on a particular property, called ‘memory effect’. CZAF recover the pristine structure in the presence anionic molecules such as acid dyes where they occupy the interlayer space. The sorption process was spontaneous in nature and followed pseudo-second-order. The isotherms showed that the removal of IC and F2B by ZAF-HT and CZAF were consistent with Langmiur model.

Keywords: acid dyes, adsorption, calcination, layered double hydroxides

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Authors: Ueda Honoka, Yasuo Hasegawa, Fumihiro Nishimura, Jae-Ho Kim, Susumu Yonezawa

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Aqueous peroxotitanium acid solution prepared from the TiO₂ fluorinated by F₂ gas was used for the TiO₂ coating on glass fibrous filters in this study. The coating of TiO₂ on the surface of glass fibers was carried out at 120℃ and for 15 min ~ 24 h with aqueous peroxotitanium acid solution using a hydrothermal synthesis autoclave reactor. The morphology TiO₂ coating layer was largely dependent on the reaction time, as shown in the results of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Increasing the reaction times, the TiO₂ layer on the glass expanded uniformly. Moreover, the surface fluorination of glass fibers can promote the formation of the TiO₂ layer on the surface. The photocatalytic activity of prepared titania-coated glass fibrous filters was investigated by both the degradation test of methylene blue (MB) and the decomposition test of gaseous acetaldehyde. The MB decomposition ratio with fluorinated samples was about 95% for 30 min of UV irradiation time, and it was much higher than that (70%) with the untreated thing. The decomposition ratio (50%) of gaseous acetaldehyde with fluorinated samples was also higher than that (30%) with the untreated thing. Consequently, photocatalytic activity is enhanced by surface fluorination.

Keywords: aqueous peroxotitanium acid solution, titania-coated glass fibrous filters, photocatalytic activity, surface fluorination

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